As the holiday season fast approaches, I am sure some of you job seekers are looking forward to taking a much-needed break from applying to jobs while you focus on your holiday parties, family gatherings, and holiday shopping. Before you actually take that break, you may want to reconsider. Think about what it actually means in the big picture of your job search. Did you ever stop to think about how many viable job opportunities you will miss if you put it on hold for a few weeks or months? Whenever you make a decision to go down one path, there is always the path not taken. When you consider your career and the importance of finding a job, holiday parties and holiday shopping do not appear to be that important anymore! By taking off even a few weeks, there is the potential that you will miss out on many viable job opportunities. Here are some tips to help you continue your job search this holiday season:

1. Create realistic objectives. As a first step, you should identify how much time you want to allocate to searching online, submitting your resume, sharpening your professional skills, and doing career-related research. Once you have an idea of what your goals and expectations are, it will make achieving those goals that much easier.

2. Establish a timetable and identify your commitments for the week. If you want to dedicate the right amount of time to your job search during the holiday season, you need to block out specific times during the week to conduct your job search. Treat your job search as a commitment that carries just as much weight as other commitments you have for the week like your gym workout, tennis date, child’s play date, or dentist visit. If you are a morning person, block out 1-2 hours in the early morning so you can do research or submit your resume to all of the new postings that went live overnight. This will still leave you plenty of free time to attend holiday parties or go holiday shopping later on.

3. After you block out your time to conduct your job search, make a list of what you plan to do during that time. You can allocate time to contacting a resume writing service to create your resume, conducting research on companies that interest you, and following up on resumes you already submitted. You can also use the holiday parties as networking opportunities to get new leads on potential jobs. If you have an idea of what you want to do during your job search that day, you can easily allocate your time to being productive and achieving your goals.

4. Give yourself a mini-break so you can re-charge your batteries where your job search is concerned. It is much better to take 2 days off rather than 2 months. Give yourself permission to take a short break from your job search. You will see that once you return to searching for a job with a fresh new perspective, you will feel re-energized and more likely to enjoy the job hunt.

The key to proactively hunting for a job during the holiday season is to treat it like any other commitment you have in your life. Your job search is not disposable or something that can be done on and off when you have time. If you have that attitude, you will never have time because something else always comes up. There will be many valuable job opportunities that will be missed simply because you could not find the time to look for them. Your career is an essential component of your persona. It is as much a part of your life as your family, exercise regimens, and holiday social engagements. It requires the same attention and nurturing that other commitments in your life do. During the holiday season, make your job search a priority and you will be landing the job of your dreams in no time!